Cork – Saturday 7th May

It was a good way to start the weekend yesterday with a solid evening of action at Downpatrick which profited us with a winner and two places from the four selections. We will be hopeful of trying to continue in that vein, and we travel down to the south of the country on this occasion, to encounter the only jumps card in Ireland – which comes from Cork. There are some very tricky races to get through, but I have found a few selections that will hopefully go close. 

Starting off the 3.45 race, which is a 2m4f handicap hurdle and sees The Tack Room head the betting for JP and John Kiely. This horse has an obvious chance, but is short enough in the betting now and I will allow him to win at the current prices. Instead, I will be siding with Paddy’s Planet, who showed some good winning form back in January time before slightly disappointing the last twice. He returns to a lesser heat on this occasion and he enlists the help of Shane O’Callaghan, who claims a vital seven pounds off his back. If he can return to the form he showed a few starts back, he would have a massive chance in this race, and I am hoping that is what can be achieved. At a price of 15/2 with Bet365, with 5 places available – he is an each way selection. 

I feel I have gone down the path of the favorite in the 4.20 too many times this season. However, I’m going to keep that faith in Chiricahua, who is a talented albeit disappointing horse over hurdles thus far. Last time out at Wexford, he made a costly blunder at halfway and unseated his rider. However, the form of his second the time before at Leopardstown reads well and would entitle him to a big chance in a race of this nature. He steps up to 3 miles for the first time which is an interesting decision and it could help his jumping to settle. Sean O’Keeffe takes the ride and one gets the feeling that if he can’t win a maiden of this nature, he could be struggling. At a best price of 15/8 with Bet365, I am forgiving him one more time. 

The 4.55 race is the last race I’ll be covering and this 3m handicap hurdle has a very short favorite in the shape of Emancipator, who was a good winner over fences last time out and is back off a much reduced hurdle mark. It may be wrong to take him on, but I am going to throw two bullets into the mix to try get this horse beat. Starting off with the ultra consistent Iridescent, who tackles this trip for the first time after a string of near misses over the last few starts. Mikey Fogarty gets on very well with this horse, who is trained by his brother, and he should be able to get this trip given his style of running. He jumps accurately and usually is up with the pace, so hopefully he can get into a good rhythm on a track that suits horses ridden positively. At a price of 15/2 with Paddy Power, with 5 places available, he should be backed each way. 

I had been considering where this other horse would turn up this season first and it is with a leap of faith that I am also going to back to Hoganville in this race, who returns from a long absence but is a horse that I think will have a very productive summer campaign. Having run out the back of a few maiden hurdles last season, he rattled home for 5th over this trip on handicap debut. He has not been seen since but he is right at the bottom of the weights for these races and even if he doesn’t perform today, I would not be giving up on him as the summer passes us by. I am going to take the chance he is fully ready to go on this first start. At a price of 12/1 with Paddy Power, he should be backed each way.